Tuesday, November 22, 2011

DIY Bookbinding + Leather Bibles

J. Mark Bertrand's blog Bible Design and Binding is a site I check each week, due to its high quality photos and discussion on the best of the best in Bible design. Recently, he posted on how to do your own bookbinding, which you can read here. If I had any skill at all, I might attempt to do this with a couple of my Bibles, but alas I do not.

One topic that is brought up here on this blog quite frequently is the general lack of premium leather Catholic Bibles. This becomes all the more frustrating when you see how many editions the new NIV2011 comes in. However, with the release of the NABRE, there may be a possibility of a premium leather edition of it in the near future depending on any future publishers. As for the other main Catholic translations, most notably the RSV and NRSV, I wonder what the future holds. Any time I have contacted Ignatius Press, they routinely tell me that they have no plans of releasing the RSV-2CE in any new editions. Well, that is too bad if you ask me. As for the NRSV, HarperOne has indicated additional future releases of the NRSV-CE are likely, but who knows what they will actually do. So, we shall see. Do you have any hopes or desires for premium editions of Catholic Bible translations?

19 comments:

After viewing that, I know that I won't ever be rebinding any of my bibles soon. I would pay for rebinding as I would pay for a plumber or an electrician. I am still hoping that another publisher such as Cambridge will publish the NABRE in the future. They should want to be a part of the Catholic marketplace! 1.2 Billion Catholics in the world, is it too much to ask for a high quality bible? Somebody step up to the plate!

I took a look at the new 2011 NIV Study Bible the other day. Whatever problems one might have with the translation, the book is beautifully done, every part is carefully considered, and it is full of useful charts and illustrations. Its enormous popularity is I think well deserved.

The new version of the Catholic Study Bible doesn’t look too good in comparison. It appears unfinished, both by Oxford and by the editors, who if I understand Ms. Sperry correctly, have had to struggle to get it done. We should all be grateful to them and to everyone involved, but the whole project apparently needs more support than it has gotten. If Baptists can get together in support of a translation, why can’t the American Bishops? It’s the Bible, for heaven’s sake.

Before binding a Catholic translation in leather I would want to make sure it was ready for that treatment.

In fact, I prefer quality hardcover binding (with sewn signatures) to leather softcover binding. But I think leather softcover rebinding is problematic -- the results are rarely fully satisfactory, even when done by a master bookbinder. The fit is not close, and unless the book was originally smyth-sewn, the rebinding ends up making the book too tight.

The only time I use a book binder is when the original binding is actually starting to fail, and I have only had books rebound in hardcover or leather hardcover.

I have yet to see a rebound Bible that begins to compare with an R. L. Allen or high-quality Cambridge Bible. I think that in most case, rebinding is a gigantic waste of money.

I'm with Rolf. If I attempted something like that I would end up gluing something to either my hand or cat. BTW, Tim, I don't know if you saw this or not, but someone posted the following link ((http://d3p91it5krop8m.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/misc/esv_2011_changes.html)that show changes to the ESV in 2011. Although I own a copy of the ESV, I haven't spent a lot of time with it. Maybe some of your readers would enjoy looking it.

I like to collect cd music, and it is very important to have the original, which has the case, the information, the printed portrait. For me is very different to have the original than to have a cd copy.

I have a kindle, and I consider that all its content has an expiration date.

Recently I bought a printed Bible, but for me, the one I use is the kindle's, because I can change the format to suit my needs.

Both Oxford and Thomas Nelson let Bibles go out of print with considerable frequency -- even Bibles that have steady backlist sales.

However, I suspect that one significant factor in the decision to discontinue production of the NRSV-CE version is that both of them sell pew Bibles, and of course, in Catholic churches, the NRSV-CE is no longer authorized as a pew Bible.

Thanks, Theophrastus. I notice the RSV-CE follows the same order as the RSV-2CE, but that the NRSV-CE follows the CCC order for the OT. Do you know why the NRSV-CE editors decided to change it to the CCC order?

I would like to see a Family Bible edition and premium leather editions of the RSV-2CE. Also, nicer leather editions of the NRSV-CE would be nice. Ignatius Press really needs to do a better job marketing and releasing more, and nicer, editions of their bible. What a shame that they're not.

I like Fireside's New Catholic Answer Bible (Endurahide cover), but the one drawback to this edition is that there are no maps. None. I understand not having a dictionary or concordance, but really, no maps? It's puzzling because their other editions have a few pages of maps.

Yes indeed! Part of the reason for this blog's existence is to promote better Catholic editions. Ignatius should do so much more than they do. So few editions of their RSV-2CE and so little promotion continues to hinder it's popularity in my mind. A true shame!

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Message 4 Next Week

Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.